Moving in the ShadowsMorris and Chuma each invite us to dance with invisible guestsby DEBORAH JOWITT for the Village Voicepublished: January 19, 2007

The fascinating new Italian Concerto (excellently played by Colin Fowler) is full of enigmatic gestures. Bach's composition was supposedly inspired by his transcriptions for keyboard of concerti grossi by Vivaldi, but if Morris has anything Italianate in mind, it emerges mostly in a predilection for gesture. The choreographer himself begins the piece in silence.

Good news for Mark Morris fans in Seattle who may be disappointed by the company's non-inclusion on the 2006-07 Meany World Dance Series: the company will be presented by the Seattle Theatre Group and the Seattle Symphony at the Paramount Theatre, May 16-18, 2008. They will be performing "L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato," an evening length work previously performed by the company at Meany Hall in 1994. The 2008 performances will be with the Seattle Symphony, conducted by Gerard Schwarz. The Paramount is a much larger auditorium than Meany Hall (2800 seats vs. 1200 seats) and, therefore, revenue potential is higher. The program will be available both as part of the Seattle Theatre Group's Dance Series and the Seattle Symphony's Basically Baroque Series. Melinda Bargreen reports briefly in the Seattle Times:

That Mark Morris’s dances spring structurally from the music is old -- though perpetually invigorating -- news. What last night’s world premiere, the kookily titled “Looky,” brought home with a thwack was the degree to which the music begets the themes as well.

Indeed, with composer Kyle Gann’s hyperkinetic “Studies for Disklavier” as springboard, how could the results be otherwise?

‘Looky’ here: Mark Morris group is back in top formIn recent years it seemed as if Mark Morris had turned into “Mark Bore Us,” but the latest dance from this prolific choreographer is anything but dull.

It’s unusual to get a world premiere from the Mark Morris Dance Group when the company appears in Boston, so Tuesday night’s opening of a sold-out Institute of Contemporary Art run was especially exciting for Morris’ many local fans.

A solid ‘Dido and Aeneas’ doesn’t quite reach heights....On Thursday night [Dido and Aeneas] opened Tanglewood’s pre-season, in the fourth collaboration between Morris and the Tanglewood Music Center’s young musicians and singers. To say that the dancers and musicians did everything asked of them and more is not to say it was an entirely happy affair.

Making choreography to Mozart scores is what is known, theologically, as an act of supererogation, which is defined as “doing more than duty requires . . . hence, anything superfluous or uncalled for”. The road to Mozartian dances is signposted for those of us who revere Divertimento Number 15 as being “Only for Balanchine” – whose genius had the measure of Mozart’s – and is littered with the abominations perpetrated by the Eurotrash dance-crowd who know, in their tiny pointed heads, that Mozart is, in fact, another word for doormat. So what of Mark Morris and his Mozart Dances at the Barbican this week?

Mozart Dancesby JUDITH MACKRELL for the Guardianpublished: July 6, 2007

To hear Mozart through Morris's ears is to appreciate the music in scintillating new detail. Harmonic variations sparkle or darken through the changing textures of the choreography. But to see the music through Morris's eyes is even better, as the choreography channels our own emotional responses to Mozart and then crystallises them into a narrative we never imagined.

In the last of three linked dances, the Mark Morris Dance Group pair off in couples. With their bold torsos and fleet, skippy steps, they look both elegant and goofy: they could be dancing at court, or at an office party. Everything they do is human and marvellous.

Mozart Dances comes to the Barbican as part of New Crowned Hope, the Mozart festival created by theatre director Peter Sellars and produced in partnership with the Vienna Festival and New York's Lincoln Centre.

The first piece, Eleven, set to the Eleventh Piano Concerto, is for the women. This is where the movement motifs and signature phrases are introduced, although at this stage we don’t know that they are going to reappear in each piece. The choreography is decorous and stately, formal yet flowing with a freedom that allows even a simple change of weight to take on an aura of loveliness.

But I think I know what he means, because I had already asked a friend about it, feeling that I had sometimes missed a joke. I was told that you always hear this kind of knowing laughter at Morris first nights, coming from somewhere in the middle of the stalls, and the meaning of the laughter is: "Oh, Mark! That's so characteristic! Only you would have thought/dared/permitted yourself to do that." I can see it could be irritating, although, like the well-connectedness of the first-night audience, it is not something to be profitably obsessed by. You'd never have much fun at Covent Garden if you let the networking distract you from the business of the stage.

Mark Morris Dance Group has become a regular company on the London stages with their visits now becoming an annual event. On this occasion, and rather than appearing on their regular host theatre Sadler’s Wells, Morris’s group appeared at the Barbican Theatre, not a great venue for dance, but still capable of hosting some contemporary dance programmes.

Mozart Dances is an ambitious new work by Mark Morris that consists of 3 different piano pieces composed by the Austrian genius: Piano Concerto No.11 in F major, K413, Sonata in D major for two pianos, K448 and the Piano Concerto No.27 in B flat major, K595. As with all Morris’s attempts at great music, the choreographer has not shied away from collaborating with the best musical talent in order to get an evening that, if only for the music enjoyment alone is worth your money. Emanuel Ax helped with the Sonata for two pianos by Yoko Nozaki and in the other two piano concertos by the orchestra of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields conducted by Jane Glover could make a musical evening of its own. Adding extraordinary dance to it just makes it all a much more vibrant and enlightened experience.

Morris opens the evening with “Eleven”, a piece greatly created for his female dancers, though at the very opening there are male and female dancers on the stage. The movement Morris has given his women is big and angular in many cases, reminiscing of Greek sculptures.

The second part of the evening (and the most hilarious) is “Double”, featuring this time his male dancers. If the women in “Eleven” were heavy and angular, the men in “Double” are gentle and light, creating some really wonderful moments on the stage that are typically Morris…

The last part of the evening “Twenty-Seven” brings the two sections of the company together for a joyful end.

The piece as a whole works really well, thanks to Morris’s use of motifs that keep reoccurring throughout the piece, though –like in the music- in constant variation. Movement goes from group to group, a gesture is repeated in all different pieces, sequences are repeated in unison, in solos, in different spatial arrangements… the use that Morris makes of Mozart’s music is that of a master choreographer in total command of his artistic tools. I don’t think ever since Balanchine, dance has seen a choreographer so capable of visually orchestrating music in the way that Morris does. This does not mean that this kind of choreography is necessarily better than that coming from choreographers who respond instinctively to music’s logical patterns, it is simply a fact that when it does work –and though there is the danger of Mickey Mousing the scores- it looks ravishing. Of course, Morris has never been afraid of Mickey Mousing musical works and in defying this very concept he has opened the doors to new choreographers to follow his route.

The company looked stylistically unified and moved in such a marvelous way it was a delight to watch. There are few companies where movement is paramount over steps and positions and Morris’s group is one of those rare examples where transitions and the sheer quality of the movement in those transitions make up the dance. Dancers do not hit positions, in fact, in a very Bournonville fashion, Morris always takes the finishing point as the point of departure for the next sequence, thus creating a flow of movement that is beautiful to watch.

The piece was well received by the audience and Morris looked pleased with his dancers, the musicians and, why not, with himself!

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